How Kelder Attacked The Corner

Attack is a strong word, but hey, it’s a snazzy title and someone on the internet said one time that the headline is like really really important so I am darn proud of it.

Speaking of attack, or not actually, I’m sure you all have a home league, one that will forever and furthermore live in your heart as the most important league of all the leagues.  I have one, for sure.  It’s been in existence since the 90s.  Like most, it started off with college friends looking to keep in touch (Facebook and MySpace weren’t invented yet;  I didn’t even have internet in my house at that point!) and added new friends and family members from Seattle to the eastern part of North Carolina.  It’s a 14 team doozy with me, my dad and brother, my best friend from childhood who’s now an AP sportswriter but that doesn’t really help because he’s hyperfocused on the Twins, a guy named Schmo who wins every year.  The ages span from their 30s to my 71 year old dad.  I hope this goes on forever.

As an official fantasy analyst now, I have read for years guys telling me who they drafted and then evaluated how I did based on this.  This article will discuss how I drafted the corner infielders, from my most important league to, well, not the least important, but kinda the least important to me.

THE HOME LEAGUE

In the second round, I drafted Matt Olson.  I got sniped on Bryce Harper at pick 11, and of course, I had pick 12 and proceeded to make a huge gamble and take Shohei Ohtani (just had to get the dad joke in there).  At pick 17, Matt Olson was just too much of a freshly baked donut to pass up.  I’m very happy with that one.

This league has a corner infield spot, and when Triston Casas was available at pick 68 I snapped him up.  Full disclosure:  I love getting power hitting first basemen.  They are more durable, safer, and provide steady value in 4 of the 5 categories in standard leagues.  Casas is my guy who I think will break into the top 2 rounds next year at a discounted price.  Love getting him every chance I get.

Oh, I didn’t mention third base yet.  Um, hmmmm, I kinda forgot to take a good one?  I have Colt Keith as my starter, with 3B eligible Michael Busch in the wings.  I didn’t take Keith until after pick 300.  Ever have one of those drafts where your target just kept getting sniped, so you pivot to a different target at a different position?  No?  I’m overanalyzing?  Probably.  I messed up.  Hopefully one of these guys is a starter quality in a 14 team league.  If not, I’m going to have to really be aggressive on call ups from younger guys.

TGFBI:  Yes, I am in there, with noted luminaries of Grey Albright, Scott White from CBS, Del Don from Yahoo!, Ryan Boyer, a Fangraphs guy, etc.  This is a brutal group of famous people!  And I’m in there with my like 236 X followers (@theeducator23).  Using the War Room from this here site was helpful and necessary.  Baseball isn’t my job, although I waste valuable work time on it, and it is for a lot of these guys, so had to get an edge!

Apparently, I like drafting first basemen early.  I snagged Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the third, Cody Bellinger in the 5th, and the aforementioned Casas in the sixth.  Yes, yes, yes, obnoxious guy who finds holes in every article, I am aware that third base is supposed to be my area of expertise.  I’m getting to it.

Bellinger is being faded too hard by the opinion makers.  I know about his projections;  I also watched him a ton and he doesn’t sell out for HR.  With 2 strikes, he goes for contact.  That’s sustainable, but won’t help his hard hit average.  I’m trusting the good old fashioned counting stats for him.

I’m still all in on Vladito.  He is no longer named Cake Batter on this site;  he’s in good shape.  Remember 2021?  He was in similar shape then too.

Now at third base, in the 100-110 range I love me some Josh Jung and got him in this league.  He was outstanding until he busted his thumb.  And he came back, and wasn’t the same.  Hmmmm, think it was something to do with a lingering thumb injury?  You ever try that?  I’m happy as Congress banning TikTok with this pick for sure.  Also snagged Ryan Mountcastle in the late rounds as my CI, not bad, not bad.  Well could be bad and we don’t know.

RAZZSLAM:  In a three week long draft, at some point you stop caring and just go auto.  Nothing new to write, but I did get Vladdy and Jung in this one as well.  Kinda staking some of my reputation on these guys, huh.  Wait, that isn’t smart to put all my eggs in one Easter basket?  Hmm, I wasn’t supposed to eat all the Nerd clusters out of my kids’ eggs before Sunday?  Well, I did, so there we go.

BLUE BLEEDERS TEN TEAM H2h:  I joined this on a whim because my kids both got sick and I was on the couch looking for something to do.  My favorite Cubs Facebook group had a league so I jumped in at the last minute.  I’m only in 1 ten team, so it’s really jarring to see someone like Elly De La Cruz go after pick 100, or get O’Neill Cruz at pick 200.  The waiver wire is for sure going to be bumpin.

So in this one, I got the turn, the ten pick.  I reckoned it was as good a time as any to take the Harper/Olson stack.  They have more power than a stack of flapjacks boy howdy!  So that ended my need to take a first basement, which backfired a bit when Casas went after pick 150 (????????)  That’s a little bit sus, as the kids said a year ago.  Bellinger keeps dropping on my teams, I don’t know why people don’t want a .290 hitter with 20/20 seasons.  Great glue pick.

3B, I went different and took Manny Machado as my main squeeze there.  Solid 30-100 potential with a decent batting average, kinda a boring pick but boring is apparently good by top NFC drafters who won’t share their draft boards.  Thanks anonymous high stakes players!

Would like to highlight Christopher Morel again.  The hard hit rate is so high;  but he swings too hard so he misses too many strikes.  If he can get that under control that would be helpful, Chris!  He’s not a chaser of bad pitches, he just needs to fix the in zone contact.  I could move off of him quite quickly but his hot streaks are epic.

NOW FOR SOME RANDOM UPDATES THAT AFFECT THE CORNER INFIELDERS

Jared Triolo is going to start for the Pirates.  He’s 3B eligible.  Maybe I should pick him up in my home league?  Good bat to ball skills and his 30% K rate wasn’t what he was in the minors.  I’m watching, Jared, I want to go to Jared but can’t work up the commitment yet.  Did you get that?  It’s an engagement joke.

Jordan Westburg is the Orioles regular 3B by my estimation.  It’s not been announced where I’ve seen it, but I have seen his competition and he’s more talented.  You know what to do.

Anthony Rizzo is healthy and has zero concussion symptoms.  He might be forgetful, but aren’t we all?  Remember, he was hitting over .300 with a 140 RC+ if you like the fancy stats before the concussion.  Rizzo is a good hitter and the shift ban was helping him a lot.  It’s also a loaded middle of the lineup and he’ll be pitched to.  Love me some Rizzo this year.

Hopefully, if this wasn’t helpful it was interesting, right?  What was I supposed to do, write about spring training exit velocities?  Season starts this week, and then we’ll have a ton of fun evaluating small sample sizes and project our heroes to a 162 game pace.  Until then, just remember, at least you don’t have two angry teenagers with a stomach bug yelling at each other like I do right now!  And if you do, just give me some advice in the comments.  At this very moment, I’m playing some soothing folk music through headphones so I can’t hear anything at all.